Location: Channel Zero / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Interview date: 15.12.2008
Mit are a fresh band playing modern metal in a “groove” format, and they’ve just popped up on the Slovenian scene! They’re from Dol pri Ljubljani. The band’s creators, the ones who came up with the idea and write most of the music, are Uroš Petrovski (vocals) and Matevž Pavčnik (guitar). All they needed to get things rolling and turn their ideas into reality was experience and battle-hardened players, and they found both by recruiting no less than two thirds of Lady’s First. Lady’s First are clearly more of a “party time” outfit, so playing in the very different Mit gives them an extra pressure valve. The Mit lineup is rounded out by Lady’s First guys Miha Oman (guitar), Aaron Cernatič (bass) and Miha Plesničar (drums), who know each other inside out. That was a big advantage in getting Mit up to speed fast: it sped up turning musical ideas into songs and got the band tight (at rehearsals) much quicker. The part of the band that comes from Lady’s First also brought a well-connected presence on the scene, which means quick deals for organizing gigs, so they supplied Mit with the management side it needed. The guys found an effective formula very quickly, one that gave Mit its purpose, and now they’re ready to start presenting their music on stage!
RockLine: What was the basic idea that led to the formation of Mit?
Matevž: What Mit is now, Uroš and I have been looking for over the last 10 years.
RockLine: Ten whole years? Whoa, that’s a long time. What did you two do all those years?
Matevž: In the meantime we were creating, writing music, playing and performing in different lineups, right up until Mit happened. Mostly in a band called Maršali.
RockLine: Maršali? What kind of band was that? A cover band?
Uroš: Yeah. Maršali were mostly a cover band. But the big plus of those ten years is that we piled up a lot of written material, going back to before.
Matevž: Right. So now we’re just adding small things and shaping the raw versions into the final form these songs are supposed to have, and so on…
RockLine: Mit is the two of you, plus three members of Lady’s First: Buco, Flešo and Aaron. Where and how did you all find each other?
Uroš: It was totally by chance. I’ve known Buco for a very long time, we’ve known each other for like six or seven years.
Matevž: Buco was in a band called Alcohollica, and we were “V šali pobrateni bend”. It was love at first sight when we met.
Uroš: About five months ago Buco was at my place. We’re driving in the car and I say to him, “Are you into our music? Here, I’ll burn you our material.” Buco said right away, “Whoa, man. I’d play this!” Flešo was automatically in on it with him, and Aaron had also said a few times that he wanted to play in a band that does more modern melodic rock.
RockLine: From what I could pick up myself at your show at the Roxly Club a month ago, it sounded very promising. There’s nothing like Mit in Slovenia. What are your ambitions?
Matevž: You say, “There’s nothing like that in Slovenia.” Well, that’s been simmering for ten years.
Uroš: You know how it is. Others always rate you higher than you rate yourself. You follow something that’s cool to you, something you like. Mit is what we really love doing, we like it. I won’t now claim that Mit is something special, it’s melody and sawing away. That’s it.
RockLine: As musicians, you’re brought together by different musical influences, you listen to different music. At your gig we even heard covers of U2, Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, Ramones…. I’m hinting at this because out of all that varied mix, a melodic musical character comes through that’s built on a metal riff and sounds special.
Uroš: Yeah. We play the covers of the artists you mention completely our own way. Basically we try to put the riff front and center in our music. In our songs we don’t put that much emphasis on solos…
RockLine: You build more on the “groove”.
Uroš: Yeah.
Matevž: Yeah. Groove, to bring out that vibe, that moment of mood, we build more on atmosphere.
Uroš: We kind of try to squeeze the maximum out of combining metal and rock.
RockLine: Uroš. Where did you pick up this frontman know-how? Where did you get your edge? Okay, you were in Maršali before. I’m asking because your stage presence is unbelievably convincing and confident.
Matevž: Uroš is a strong asset of Mit.
Uroš: I used to wear a little shirt, little glasses, strum the guitar, ha, ha, ha… Once it happened completely out of the blue that… you know, back in elementary school they kicked me out of the choir because I supposedly couldn’t sing. I never stopped believing in myself. Maybe that fired me up even more to keep developing.
Matevž: Experience matters here too. During the gig itself. That confidence that lets you switch off and just let things “happen” to you on stage.
RockLine: And you, Matevž? How did you get hooked on playing guitar, and who are your role models?
Matevž: I can’t even tell you. There was something in me that drove me to play guitar, and then you try and keep trying and realize it’s basically a tool you use to express yourself in everyday life. A way of communicating with the world around you, well, sort of.
Uroš: Matevž used to play keyboards.
Matevž: Uroš and I have known each other since we were little. When we listened to different music, we wanted to start a band. In the beginning I was the keyboard player and he played guitar.
RockLine: Oho, so you two actually grew up together.
Uroš: Yeah. We’ve known each other a very long time. A good ten years ago Matevž wrote his first lyrics, and I said to myself, “Let’s make a song together.”
Matevž: It happened at our first meeting, when we got together because of music. Each of us had our own instrument and it was a kind of “jam”. And we wrote the first song right away.
Uroš: All of that was very spontaneous. But then it took quite a while to put the band together.
RockLine: What has the response to Mit been so far, especially after the shows you’ve played? Have you had many gigs so far?
Uroš: Some seven.
Matevž: Some seven or eight. The reactions have been very positive. I’m a skeptic myself. What I mean is, I don’t want to get excited right away in cases like this. But I have to admit I’m totally into Mit, more than I ever thought something would grab me like this. Probably precisely because of all this approval and the words of support.
Uroš: Even when we presented our music to radio station editors, they were excited and interested in playing our music on air.
RockLine: Because you sound melodic, simple and “groovy”. A very good formula. It jumps right into your ear.
Uroš: Exactly.
Matevž: And other bands, for example, often miss the point because they want to be special “by force”, and then they start overcomplicating. But that way you lose the “groove”.
Uroš: The funny thing is that the hardest thing to do is to make something simple.
RockLine: In that sense, off the top of my head, Elton John and Phil Collins are admirable.
Uroš: Yeah. Three chords and they pull a miracle of a song out of them….. (drummer Flešo walks past, editor’s note). “Hey Flešo!” “Come on, say something for the interview too!”
Flešo: Leave me alone.
RockLine: Flešo, how did you “worm your way into” Mit?
Flešo: I needed a “mit” (myth), right?
Matevž: Actually, he was needed, heh, heh…
Uroš: Well, music is good for this and that, right?
RockLine: What about your studio debut? What are the plans?
Matevž: The plan is to get our first album out by summer 2009.
Uroš: Five tracks are already done for the studio album. We have to polish up as many more, so that there are ten in the end.
Matevž: Actually there’s a lot of material. Ideas, lyrics. That’s enough for an album. We just need to put together the right arrangements.
RockLine: Polish things up?
Matevž: Basically we have to actually test how they work, how they would work, so we have to play them.
Uroš: These are songs and ideas that the two of us play together. We have them in our heads. But you don’t know much until the whole band tries out your ideas. We have the skeleton done. You try the thing out, and then you just take the remarks into account, and that’s how it gets built up and refined.
RockLine: As I understand it, you two are the driving forces of the band, you write the music, you write the lyrics, and the other three from Lady’s First obey you and mostly carry out your orders.
Matevž: We’re the initiators of the ideas. We present new ideas to the band. But then we shape the thing together in the end. Because we’re a band, we’re a tribe, we’re like a family.
Uroš: You know, it used to be a problem because it was only the two of us in everything, so there was no real ambition to get anything concrete out of all those ideas.
Matevž: Now that we’re a band, there’s no need to push anybody into anything, we all just grab the work ourselves.
Uroš: Basically the guys believe in the ideas the two of us present to them.
RockLine: Aaron, Flešo and Buco are very experienced musicians. They’ve played a ton on stage.
Uroš: Definitely. That’s our big advantage. It’s an excellent foundation for creating, and the necessary bonds that have to work in a band for it to exist at all came together very quickly. Basically, to justify its existence.
Matevž: We didn’t need those two or three years a band needs at the start just to get to know each other and get tight. Of course we’re still getting to know each other, but with the kind of, how should I put it, basic capital we came together with, we could actually start “full throttle”.
Uroš: That’s how we were able to put out our first single and make a video so quickly. The foundation is built. A solid base for the band’s existence and stability.
Matevž: We already have the foundations we just keep building on.
RockLine: All your effort over ten years and all that waiting is finally paying off for you two with Mit.
Matevž: Basically the foundation is that you believe in something and never stop believing in it.
Uroš: That was exactly the saddest thing about Maršali, that they didn’t believe in things. Well, of course everyone has their own wishes and their own vision, but it was already good the way it turned out.
Matevž: Music is something you must not force.
RockLine: How do you see the Slovenian scene when it comes to popular music, and I obviously mean rock? For example, what segment do you think is missing from the current range of rock on offer in Slovenia?
Matevž: Simple, “revved-up” music.
Uroš: Music charged with energy. So you can feel the energy.
Matevž: Like when you go to, say, Orto bar. When you see people swaying, tapping the beat with their feet during the concert, you know that’s it. You don’t have to watch what the band is doing, you don’t have to focus on the individuals in the band, on their performance, their show. The point is that the band is one finished unit and that its energy is felt in the room as the energy of one. With melodic and simple music it’s easier to achieve that.
RockLine: What about gigs going forward? How does it look for Mit?
Matevž: In the second half of January 2009 we’re heading out to play live again. It’s a small promo tour, and we’ll also be presenting the new single and video. Right now we’re also working on material for the album, and then we’re also trying to show up in the media as much as possible.
Uroš: We’re also thinking about maybe putting out a second single. The song Črni dež is very interesting to us in that regard.
RockLine: What about interest in your music abroad, have you sent any material abroad for people to listen to?
Uroš: Not for now. We’d like to finish the album and release it.
Matevž: We want to stay realistic for now. Not build up any big illusions. We’ll see what the future brings.
Uroš: We waited ten years just for a band. You never know what’s waiting for you. But despite that long wait, there’s now a certain ambition, a certain drive, a certain will to reach the goal. At this moment that’s great for us.
RockLine: Where will you record the album?
Uroš: In Podutik near Ljubljana. Vox-S studio. We’re very happy with the recordings and the way of working. I’d recommend that other bands turn to this studio too.
photos: Nina Grad
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